Absolutely Smashing
by Nile60
Summary: "So Rin, Makoto, Nagisa, Rei, and I were going to a party. Process of elimination left Nagisa to drive us home. And Nagisa brought a 12 pack of beer. What I'm trying to say is that this is going to be an interesting night. And it was, but not exactly for the reasons I was expecting."


**Absolutely Smashing**

So Rin, Makoto, Nagisa, Rei, and I were going to a party.

We all knew that Makoto was going to get completely hammered, because he always drinks when he's stressed, and he couldn't find his keys or wallet before we'd left.

Then Rei goes and says he doesn't drink, but everyone knew that three hours into this he'd have mixed seven types of alcohol into his drink. Four hours into this, he'd probably be ejecting that alcohol out of his body along with a lung or two.

Rin doesn't drink, but Rin also can't drive in this country, either. Though I had no place to talk, since I never bothered learning because I always had Makoto around.

Process of elimination left Nagisa to drive us home. And Nagisa brought a twelve pack of beer.

What I'm trying to say was that this was supposed to be an interesting night. And it was, but not exactly for the reasons I- or, I guess, _we_ \- were expecting.

"Are we there yet?" Nagisa asked for the hundredth time in the last 30 seconds . I glanced back at him through the rear view mirror before focussing on how Makoto's knuckles blanched the tighter he gripped the steering wheel.

We were in Makoto's minivan; the one he used to transport his swim students from meets all over the region. It was green- an absolutely horrible green- and had those little family stickers on the back. He was driving, of course, because Makoto felt the need to offer to drive everywhere. He was the only one of us who had full time access to a car, which was useful when we all decided to go out together and couldn't be bothered to pay public transportation fees. Besides, he was happy when I sat next to him, even though I always did. Apparently, I was the best navigator. It was almost as big as a lie of saying that Nagisa was the best driver. Being a navigator required communication skills, which I… lack.

The double seat behind Makoto was occupied by Nagisa and his useless amount of _stuff._ Nagisa always brought a big, floral printed bag to parties. He said his mom made him do so, since she'd be able to smell weed or alcohol or whatever it was she was making sure his son wasn't doing on the bag. Nagisa thought it was dumb since he had a completely _other_ bag to stuff his weed and alcohol in, but still managed to use his mom's bag for things. Such as the transportation of sparkly eyeshadow and enough snacks to stock a food pantry for three months.

Behind him, in the very back of the van, separated by an empty seat, sat Rin and Rei. Seeing the two next to each other is something I don't think I've ever gotten used to. It was like two entirely different areas of my life had intersected, and become something… strange to say the least. They got along well enough, and if the bits of conversation I'd picked up from Rin's proceedingly getting louder voice were to go by, they were talking about the pros and cons of swimming butterfly. From what I could tell, there weren't a lot of pros.

Having Rin back there was weird. Typically it was Nagisa all the way in the back with Rei; the two whispering about whatever they whispered about. Seeing Rin in general was weird, since the world renowned swimmer was so rarely in Japan ever since he began training to join the Olympic team for Australia (the traitor). His visiting is what led to us being in this mess; because Rin was only going to be here for a few days, and Rin liked partying, and we liked Rin… or whatever.

I started to pick up vibes from Makoto and turned to him, seeing his jaw set like it did whenever he was grading papers and realised that he'd been marking the same question wrong for every student when it turns out that he'd misread to answer key or when he buys the wrong kind of butter and for the rest of the week our mackerel is prepared with _margarine,_ which is disgusting.

When I raised an eyebrow at him, his eyes flickered to the fuel gage. I followed his gaze, finding that it was almost near empty and I automatically understood. Because we're in the middle of nowhere and our car could stop running at any given moment. And we're with _Nagisa._ I felt a shudder run through me.

I had to give Makoto's ugly coloured van props, however. It lasted an entire additional 20 minutes before shuddering to a stop. Makoto had enough sense to pull over to the side of the road when his car began to make groaning noises, but still let out a grumble when it came to a stop, which was practically cursing someone out when it comes to him.

"What's going on?" I heard Rei ask. When Makoto informed his passengers of their current predicament, the series of responses included a few bad words from Rin and a loud _What about the party?!_ from Nagisa. I ignored them in favour of propping my chin in my hand and looking out the window. We really _were_ in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by fields in all directions. Makoto sighed and looked at me apprehensively.

He was asking what we should do, as though I held the answer to all the world's problems. Like I could get us out of this mess then my next step was solving world hunger. It was frustrating, when he looked at me like that, and I knew the only thing I could do was shrug and look away. I wondered if it frustrated him, too.

After a few moments of blissful (but maybe only to me) silence, Rin spoke up. "What should we do?" he asked. His tone revealed that he knew it was a stupid question- it wasn't like there was a lot they _could_ do- but I figured that someone needed to ask it anyways, and it was nice that it was Rin. Way to take one for the team, pal. Makoto simply sighed and drummed his fingers against the steering wheel thoughtfully.

"Do we have any service out here?"

" _None,_ " Nagisa answered, sounding absolutely defeated. "None at all!" I almost felt bad for him.

Makoto looked back at me, and I nodded once before turning my attention to the glove back above my legs. Opening it revealed a map that I knew would be inside, along with a flashlight and a jar of peanut butter. Makoto took the map and the flashlight.

"Says here there should be an inn a little over three miles from here. It's not that far," Makoto sounded confident, but the feeling wasn't mutual. He hadn't worked out- not like we used to- in a long while. Though jogging three miles nonstop within thirty minutes would've been nothing to him when he was younger, he was starting to fall out of shape. But voicing my concerns would lessen his confidence, and he seemed dead set on finding this inn.

"Are we all going together?" Rei asked, and it was a stupid question, because Makoto's face obviously said _no,_ but he spelt it out for him anyways.

"At this hour of the day, it's probably best for just me to go. It's too dark for a large group to go with just one flashlight, since it heightens the potential of someone getting left behind or injured. Besides, something could happen to the van." I wondered if that would be such a shame.

Then, Makoto left, and Rin, Rei, Nagisa, and I were left in the car and it was beginning to seem less likely we were actually ever going to make it to this party. Not that I minded. I really only went in the first place because I didn't want Makoto to wind up pity-sleeping with someone. It's happened before. Twice.

Then I guess Nagisa got bored or something because then everyone- except me- was singing 99 bottles of beer on the wall. Makoto still wasn't back by the time we reached one.

I wondered if he wound up pity-sleeping with the innkeeper.

 **(A/N)- That was the first part of this short, multi-chaptered fic,** _ **Absolutely Smashing.**_ **As you can see, one chapter in and Haru already seems to have enough salt to rival the ocean. Maybe that's why he's always craving water.**

 **Sorry if Haru seems out of character. This is genuinely what I feel like goes on in his head. He has a lot of thoughts, he's just not vocal about him. Really, if you pay attention to the story, you'll find that he has not said a** _ **single**_ **word yet.**

 **Not too sure when I'll update. I'm bad at keeping up with stories.**


End file.
